Of course, most of us know people like this. The world is a very selfish place, after all.

But what if we substituted them, they, and themselves for me, us, and ourselves?

That changes things a bit, doesn’t it? It sort of places us in the uncomfortable position of determining whether our focus is inward or outward.

As Christians we know that we cannot live our lives only for ourselves because the Bible is very clear that this life is not all about us, our wishes, our desires, or our needs.

It’s actually ALL about Him.

Because it’s ALL about Him, our focus then must be outward and not inward. As difficult and as challenging as that might be at times, we have no other choice. The fact is, we have been commanded to love others just as Christ loves us.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13: 34-35

Loving one another is one of the foundational truths of the Church. Our love and concern for one another tells the world that we have Christ abiding within us.

The world in which we live however, says that YOU are number one, that YOU are the most important person in the world. This concept is both unbiblical and self-defeating because it attempts to lift us up while denigrating God.

In Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia, he reminded them that through love they were to serve one another. To emphasize this, he also gave them a warning that if they did not do this, but rather turned on one another, they would eventually destroy each other.

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! Gal. 5:13-15

Ours is a call to serve, to prefer others, to put another’s needs before our own. This is the litmus test of whether we are who we say we are, or if we are yet another in a long line of imposters.

But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3: 17-18

Do you and I care about others?

If so, do they know it because we tell them, or because we show them by our actions?

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Gal. 6:9-10

By focusing outward instead of inward, we are presented with innumerable opportunities to minister to others.

From where I set, I think the world could use a whole lot more of that.

The other day at the college my daughter attends, there was a strange object in the parking lot that immediately drew my attention. See if you recognize what it was.

If you said it was a rail car,you would be correct. So what is an old rail car doing on a college campus?

Well, this isn’t your common ordinary rail car. This is an actual Holocaust rail car that was used to transport prisoners, those who the German Reich had deemed to be unworthy to live, to one of the various extermination camps.

How this rail car ended up in Florida I do not know, however there is a Holocaust museum somewhere in S.W. Florida and the car was loaned to the college as part of an awareness program the students have to participate in.

I must tell you that I sat transfixed for several minutes as I gazed intently at this rail car. I am very familiar with what went on inside one of these cars, having read several first hand accounts of the few who survived this journey of death.

As I sat staring at this rail car, I was reminded of a first hand account written by Dr. Milosz Nyiszli, who in 1960 wrote “Auschwitz: A Doctors Eyewitness Account”. In this heart rendering account of extreme human suffering at the hands of the German war machine, Dr. Nyiszli explains in graphic detail how that ninety people were crammed into each of these cars.

With no heat, nothing for a toilet except a bucket, no water, the only food available being that which the “passengers” had brought themselves,these trains traveled for days and days until their destination was finally reached.

Here is a glance inside of this car where ninety humans were packed in like sardines. I am standing a short distance from the end of the car, looking out. The window at the far end of the car would have been secured shut in order to prevent the occupants from eventually discovering their destination,thus preventing full scale panic from setting in.

Certainly, none of us can fathom such cruelty. Nor can we truly understand the human suffering that millions of people endured. To make this even more incomprehensible, these hapless millions were afflicted and ultimately killed because they were somehow designated as “different”.

Think about that statement, the madman of Bavaria, Adolph Hitler, decreed that millions of innocent lives be exterminated because they didn’t look like the so called “master race”. Rather than risk tainting the blood of this “master race”, a solution was devised to ensure this could not happen.

They even gave this solution a name: “The Final Solution”.

Jews, Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Homosexuals, and a whole litany of other people groups were all designated to be destroyed.

Today, it is imperative that we never forget this and other,more recent atrocities aimed at exterminating those deemed inferior by the “powers that be”. It is especially important that our young people learn of this and work hard to prevent it from ever happening again.

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today”. Abraham Lincoln

And least you think something like this could never happen again, that 21st century man has evolved far beyond the evil perpetrated in the previous century, I urge you to look and listen to the sounds emanating against those who are “different” than you or I. The drums are even now pounding out warnings to those deemed “unworthy”.

There is only one thing that will prevent a recurrence of the atrocities of the past.

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40

O God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, turn our hearts towards you. Create in us a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within us. If history has taught us anything, it is that when we have chosen to walk far from you, our hearts turn to stone. Help us to love, to care, to show mercy and compassion to those who so desperately need it this day. Amen

Giving to God what is rightfully His. Why is this so difficult? Is it because His requirements are so out of reach for us mortals that we give a weak, anemic effort?

To answer that, let’s first understand what His requirements actually are.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

Anyone? Can anyone give a reasonable explanation as to why it is so difficult for us to do just these THREE things? To do justly and treat people fairly, to be kind one to another, and acknowledge that there is One much greater than any of us…is this so hard?

Or how about this? (emphasis mine):

‘And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” ‘ Matthew 22:35-40

Anyone? Can anyone give a reasonable explanation as to why it is so difficult for us to do even these TWO things? For us to love God with our entire being, and to love one another as much as we love ourselves, is God asking the impossible of us?

It seems so trite, so obvious for us to say that the reason we struggle with doing these very doable things is because we live in a fallen world. Or that it’s because the enemy is hard at work.

As if he hasn’t always been hard at work.

Here’s what I think. Like everything else in life, we make time for the things that are important to us. With unending devotion we sacrifice for what we deem necessary. We exert monumental effort to achieve our dreams.

Do you agree that we often place far too much emphasis on outward appearances? And in doing so, are sometimes guilty of misjudging someone? After all, isn’t it still true that looks can be deceiving?

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Consider this lesson from the gospel of Mark.

One day Jesus was confronted by a group of Pharisees and scribes because they had observed his disciples eating bread with unwashed hands.

You see, the Pharisees were all about maintaining outward appearances, and they used this opportunity to inform Jesus that his little band of followers were now defiled for failing to keep up with tradition.

Then, as now, we humans seem to have this need to elevate ourselves while tearing down others. Why is that?

At any rate the Pharisees were all about outward appearances and traditions, believing that putting on a good external show somehow equates to a healthy inward relationship with God.

NOT.

Hmmm…makes one wonder if not a lot has changed over the space of a couple thousand years. OK….back to the topic at hand.

After Jesus admonished the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy, He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.” Mark 7:9 NKJV

In other words, Jesus is telling them that they rejected God’s word and his teachings in favor of their own man made traditions. And this is a snare that all of us must be on guard to avoid. Jesus came to set us free, but I dare say many of us are ensnared in traditions of our own making, thus rendering the word of God of no effect.

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Instead of worrying about and focusing on trivial things that mattered little, if at all, in the grand scheme of things, Jesus went on to explain to them what truly defiles a man.

“And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.””
Mark 7:20-23 NKJV

Notice anything missing from this list? None of the things on it are matters of tradition or outward appearance, but matters of the heart!!

What defiles us, what condemns us are the evil, sinful acts born out of an unregenerate heart. That’s what Jesus is saying here. A heart that has resisted the love of Christ and has determined to forge its own path is a heart that is capable of doing the unthinkable.

As lest any of us should be lifted up with pride because we are so good, residing within each of our hearts are the seeds of each of the sins Jesus mentions above. I don’t care who you are, that’s a powerful and sobering thought.

The point is, our good intentions will never be good enough, but instead a life lived apart from God will give way to a heart that is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it”? Jer. 17:9

There is but one cure for such a thing; the Lord Jesus. He alone has the cure for what defiles a man. Only Jesus can transform our hearts from one of stone into one that is fully alive in Him. He is the heart mender.

It’s what comes out of a man that matters most, and when Jesus has been given control of our lives we must continually strive to gain control of the flesh that produces the things which defile.

Walking with Jesus is not about keeping church or religious traditions, it’s not about maintaining appearances or your standing in the church. Walking with Jesus is about relationship, one that produces the fruit of the Spirit, not the deeds of the flesh.

Have you ever thought about how we Christians go out of our way to make life harder than it needs to be?

Consider the church or assembly where you worship. I imagine there are certain rules that you are expected to follow in order to be a member in good standing. For instance, some churches have rules on attendance, and others prohibit smoking and drinking. No gambling is also found in most list of rules.

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Some churches still prohibit women from wearing makeup and jewelry. These are typically associated with long jean skirts for the ladies and white shirts for the men. UGH. When will we ever learn that personal holiness begins in the heart and not the closet?

Oh, and did you know there are different rules for the Methodists than there are for the Baptists? Did I mention the rules in the Black church, whatever that is? In addition to all of this, perhaps most important of all are the unspoken rules, which of course everyone is somehow supposed to know.

There can be no room for personal liberty in such an environment, as personal liberty might allow one to step out of order, thus creating chaos, and if there’s one thing we like about rules it is that they bring order.

Now, I like order, to an extent. Order, or Rules, brings with them a sense of stability and security, and who doesn’t appreciate that?

I do not like order however that is so inflexible that I cannot be free to express myself. Here’s a personal example of what I’m talking about. I like color, lots of color, especially bright colors. Maybe it’s because I have a degree of color blindness and struggle to see color like everyone else. Whatever the case, I love bright, bold colors.

On Sunday’s I always wear a suit to church. Why? Because I like wearing them. I also like wearing a tie to church, which I am acutely aware, goes against the norm these days. But I won’t wear just any tie. No boring, ugly ties in my closet! That’s why I wear ties that are bold, colorful, and bright. Like this for example….

Sorry, but no dress codes for this guy!

OK, back to my topic. One of the greatest problems with church rules is that we expect everyone to follow them, thus creating carbon copies of ourselves in the process. And as if that weren’t bad enough, we will follow up on our rules by making even more rules.

So, are all of these rules necessary to be a follower of Jesus? Do we really need a list of can’s and can not’s? Well, let’s consult the manual, shall we? Surely there we can find some direction.

In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 26 we find the following:

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:35-40 KJV

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Love the Lord. Love your neighbor.The two hardest “easy” things you can do.

It’s because we the Church make it so. Not the Lord. Not the Word. WE make it so hard. It’s as if we cannot fathom that loving the Lord and loving your neighbor could be enough. So we add our own special flair to it in the form of Rules.

And look what we’ve made of the church!

All of the Law and all of the prophets hang on just these two commandments. Nothing else is required. No list of Rules. No list of do’s and don’ts. No clothesline religion here, no sir.

All of the Law and all of the prophets hang on just these two commandments. This easy, this simple, this uncomplicated.

Maybe the reason we make it so hard is because of the word “love”. If it were anything else, perhaps it wouldn’t be so troubling, but love, well that hits us right in the heart doesn’t it?

Just like it’s supposed to.

Be blessed,

Ron

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